Construction of electrical apparatus



March 22, 1960 E. RHYHONES 2,929,964

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CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRICAL APPARATUS Filed March 2'7, 1956 12Sheets-Sheet 11 I I 3/0 JIO\ March 22, 1960 J. E. RHYS-JONESCONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRICAL APPARATUS l2 Sheets-Sheet 12 Filed March 27,1956 United States Patent CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRICAL APPARATUS John EmyrRhys-Jones, Iver, England, assignor to The Plessey Company Limited,llford, England, a British company Application March 27, 1956, SerialNo. 574,122 Claims priority, application Great Britain March 29, 1955Claims. (Cl. 317-101) This invention relates to the construction ofelectrical apparatus of the type comprising components such asresistors, capacitors and inductors in their various forms, amplifyingor transducing devices such as valves or transistors, and circuitelements such as switches, plug and socket connectors or the like, whichare interconnected by means of appropriate conductors. There are manyexamples of apparatus of this type, especially in the field oftelecommunications; it is convenient to identify such apparatus, ingeneral, as electronic apparatus.

At the present time, electronic apparatus is usually constructed with ametal support, or chassis, upon which the components are mounted byhand, and connections between the various circuit elements are madeindividually by hand. With the object of reducing or eliminating thelarge amount of manual work required in making an electronic apparatusin this way, suggestions have been made in the past for methods ofconstruction by which a measure of automaticity in production can beachieved; one example of such a construction is the socalled printedcircuit. However, so far as we are aware no methods have been suggestedwhich have not at least one of the disadvantages of high initialinstallation cost of the apparatus involved, delay and/or high cost inchanging from an apparatus of one circuit design to another, and dangerof bad connections, leading to a high reject rate or the need forfurther human supervision of construction.

The present invention is concerned with an improved method ofmanufacturing electronic apparatus, and the apparatus made thereby. Inone method of carrying the present invention into effect which will bedescribed hereinafter, use is made of a carrier for the components ofthe apparatus, having recesses or the like to locate the connectionterminals, such as metal wires or strips emerging from the components,in a predetermined spaced relationship in a line or series of lines; aswill appear an advantageous relationship is for the terminals to belocated at regular intervals, or multiples of such intervals, in two ormore equidistant and preferably straight lines. The connections betweenthe elements are effected by a series of connectors each of which hasparts which follow a line of the successive terminals. In consequence,the connectors can be of generally elongated or linear shape, with meansfor making engagement with the separate component terminals. Theadvantage of this arrangement lies in the fact that it becomes possibleto make the connectors more easily, and, as will appear below, can bemade into multiple connector units, which facilitates assembly.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method ofconstructing electronic apparatus which lends itself to a high degree ofautomaticity.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method ofconstructing electronic apparatus in which components of the apparatuscan be arranged and located in predetermined positions, and the desiredconnections between them established by a composite conductor as-2,929,964 Patented Mar. 22, 1960 2 sembly which is prepared inaccordance with a predetermined programme.

Another object is to provide electronic apparatus in which a substantialpart of the wiring is contained in a pair of terminal bars each havingterminals along one edge, and wherein wire ended components extend eachbetween two terminals on said respective bars, and which apparatus canbe conveniently and economically manufactured.

A still further object is to provide improved terminal bars for use insuch apparatus.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel method ofmanufacturing connector elements for incorporation in such bars, whichmethod shall be capable of economical performance even when onlyrelatively small series of identical bars are to be produced thereby.

More specifically the invention provides a method of manufacturing anelectronic apparatus comprising a plurality of circuit components havingconductive terminals thereon, which includes the step of forming inaccordance with a predetermined programme a sequence of electricalconnectors, assembling said connectors in overlapping relation to form aseries of electrically separate connectors with parts thereof arrangedat predetermined intervals, locating said components with said terminalsarranged in at least two lines and connecting said parts to saidterminals.

The invention also includes a method of manufacturing an electronicapparatus comprising a plurality of circuit components having conductiveterminals thereon, which includes the step of locating said circuitcomponents with said terminals arranged at predetermined intervals in atleast two lines, forming from conductive material and in accordance witha predetermined programme a plurality of electrically separateelectrical connectors having parts thereof arranged at predeterminedintervals, assembling said connectors in overlapping relation, andconnecting the said parts to the said terminals.

The invention further comprises an electronic apparatus comprising aplurality of circuit components having conductive terminals thereon, andan insulating carrier on which said components are located with the saidterminals arranged at predetermined intervals, in at least two lines,and at least one electrical connection means consisting of a pluralityof electrically insulated connectors in stacked overlapping relation.

The invention further comprises an electronic apparatus comprising aplurality of circuit components having conductive terminals extendingtherefrom, an insulating carrier having therein recesses or the like toreceive and locate said terminals, said recesses or the like beingarranged in at least two lines, and at least one electrical connectingmeans consisting of a plurality of fiat electrically insulatingconnectors in stacked overlapping relation, and mounted on said carrieron a surface thereof adjacent said recesses or the like, said connectorsengaging said terminals.

The invention will be better understood, and features and advantages ofit will appear, from the following description of embodiments thereof,given by way of example, in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of carrier;

Figure 2 is a plan of the carrier of Figure l with some of thecomponents in position;

Figure 3 is an example of one of the connectors;

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the initial connector stock beforeslitting;

Figure 5 is a diagram showing the general arrangement of one form of thecomposite connector forming machine;

Figure 6 is a diagram showing the general arrangement of one form ofmachine for inserting components, soldering connectors and testing;

Figure 7 is a diagram showing the general arrangement of a supplementaryconveyor system;

Figure 8 is an underneath view of a valve holder using multiple integralterminals; Figure 9 is a side view of a different form of carrier withsome of the components attached thereto, and without the connectors;

Figure 10 is a transverse cross section on the line 1010 of Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a cross section through another form of carrier, in apreliminary stage of manufacture;

Figure 12 shows another form of connector strip stock material forconnectors;

Figure 13 is a diagrammatic elevation of a form of construction of aradio receiver;

Figures 14a to 14d are diagrams showing the arrangement of parts in aspecific embodiment of the invention;

Figure 15 is a circuit diagram of the parts shown in Figure 14;

Figure 16 is a partly diagrammatic side elevation of a machine formanufacturing apparatus in accordance with the invention; I V Figure 17is a plan view, also partly diagrammatic, of

the same machine;

' Figure 18 is a fragmentary cross section through one of. theselectively operable punches in its nonoperated position;

Figure 19 is a corresponding section of the punch in its operatedpositions;

Figure 20 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing the means forstacking and sealing together and to the carrier the connectors of anassembly and Figure 21. is a simplified block schematic diagram showingthe manner of controlling and interlocking the operation of parts of themechanism.

In the first embodiment shown in Figures 1 to the electronic apparatuscomprises a carrier presenting two parallel spaced edges; it is madefrom two strips of insulating material of the synthetic resin bondedpaper type of the same shape and size, which are held parallel to eachother about an inch apart by spacers 11. Two

adjacent longer edges of the strip are notched at regular intervals asat 10a; the notches are of'special shape, as shown, but at present it issufficient to describe them as V-shaped, with an enlargement at the baseof the V.

Many of the components. used'in electronic apparatus such as resistorsand fixed capacitors have two terminals in the form of wires or the likeemerging from opposite ends of the body of the component; the terminalsof notches, with one terminalin each notch. High frequency coils ortransformers such as 15, 16, or valve sockets 17, 18 and 19 can bemounted in this way, by the addition of connecting wires to the existingterminals if necessary. The components are mounted with the body of thecomponent which lies between the strips, so that when the terminals areinserted in the notches along the 'top edges of the strips thecomponents will be inverted.

In this way alarge proportion of the components required in, say, aconventional radio receiver canv be mounted on the strips. Larger orheavier components, such as loudspeakers and iron-core components can beomitted from this part of the assembly.

The terminals of the components are thus located. in the notches in thecarrier, and it is necessary to provide connectors between the terminalsto complete the circuit. The connectors are in the form of stripconductors, .of whichone is shown. at20 inFigure 3, which are adapted ar 4 each to lie along an edge of one of the strips, adjacent the basesof the notches, and at each point where it is desired to make connectionto the terminal lying in a notch the connector is formed with a smalllateral projection such as 20a, which is inserted into the notch. One

connector can have as. many lateral projections as required, but it willbe seen that the projections of the connectors will all occur at regularintervals, or multiples of regular intervals, corresponding to'theregular intervals between the notches.

It will occur that some of the connectors 20 will overlap; for exampleone connector might be required to make connection to terminals lying inthe first, second, fifth and eighth notches along the edge of one strip,a second connection to make connection with terminals in the third,fourth and sixth notches, and a third with terminals in the seventh andninth notches. To obviate short-circuit between the respectiveconnectors, the under face of each of them is covered with an insulatinglayer, so that they can be brought close together into a sandwich ofalternate layers of conductor and insulator. In this way, and by causingthem to adhere together, all the connectors to be applied to'one sideofjthe strips can thus be made into a preformed unit, and the insertionof the wiring thus reduces to the inserting of the projections of twosuch' composite connectors into the appropriate notches, which isobviously a very simple operation.

The sequence of making an electronic apparatus is thus to attach theconnectors to the carrier, preferably in the composite form, then toinsert the components in the notches, and finally to effect a permanentconnection between each terminal and projection in a notch. It is to beobserved that it is not necessary to insert more than one projection inany notch and so that problem of making the permanent connection is nomore than making connection between one projection and one terminal ineach slot. It is preferred to efiect this by a soldering operation.

The apparatus this far described could be assembled manually, and whenso made would have the advantages of being compact and easy to assemble,but the outstanding advantage of the construction is that assembly canbe very largely 'mechanised; moreover, suitable machines for thispurpose are not exceptionally complicated or expensive.

Assembly, when mechanised, takes place in three stages; the preparationof the composite connectors and their insertion in the carriers, thepositioning of the components in the; carriers, and the final solderingof the connections. It is advantageous to include as a stage of themanufacturethe automatic testing of the apparatus.

In thisparticular embodiment of the invention, in

making the composite connector, the individual connectors are first madeseparately; for ease of handling it is preferred to make thesefromcontinuous material. Connector strip stock is first prepared; thisconsists of an insulating base, such as polythene, to one surface ofwhich is applied a conducting layer. Such a layer can be a metal foilmade to adhere to the base, or a metal coating deposited directly uponthe base, as by spraying or painting, aconductive material.

The connector stock has the'shape of a narrow strip with lateralprojections along one side, the projections dividual connectors bycutting it into appropriate lengths 5 and removing those projectionswhich are not required; For this purpose the'stock 30 is fedintermittently under the control of a control unit 31 to a machine 32which crops out the unwanted projections and one 33 cuts the stock tolength; the nature of the material is very suitable for intermittentfeed in this way. It is arranged that sequence of operation of thecropping and cutting tools effected by control unit is controlled by aprogramming device 34, so that the different connectors required for acomposite unit are successively prepared.

As the individual connectors are cut off, they are received by a movableindexing tray 35, the location of which is controlled by the programmingdevice 34 in conjunction with control unit 31. This tray has locatingmeans, such as partition walls on the bottom of the tray, and is movedso as to receive the individual connectors in the relative positionswhich they will have in the finalassembly. When all the connectors of acomposite connector have been loaded into the tray, the tray is moved toa station 36 at which all the connectors are made to adhere together, asby the use of a pressuresensitive or thermal adhesive applied to oneside of the connectors, and applying heat and/or pressure to theassembly. 7 The composite connectors are inserted into the carriers;since it is desirable that the connectors should be inspected at thisstage it is convenient for the inspector to insert the connectors byhand in the carriers, but otherwise the-connectors can be so insertedautomatically. The connectors can be coloured-coded, to make it easierto perceive that they are inserted on the correct side, and the rightway up, in the carriers. This assembly is indicated at the left hand endof Figure 6, which shows again diagrammatically the general arrange!ment of the apparatus for effecting the second and third stages ofmanufacture.

The second stage is the insertion of the components in thenotches of thecarriers. As indicated in Figure 6, the carriers are accuratelypositioned on a conveyor 40, the motion of which is controlledby afurther control unit 41. Components are carried in a series of hoppers'42, each hopper containing components of one kind only, or a selectionof components in order with the delivery chute of each hopper"positioned above the carriers on the conveyor. The delivery of acomponent is controlled, preferably electrically, from the control unitand the latter, by a programme inserted into it from a programme unit43, ensures that when the appropriate notches of a carrier are below theappropriate chute a component emerges from that chute and drops into apredetermined one of the notches.

The carriers as they leave the second stage of the machine have thecomponents loosely in position, and it is necessary to make connectionbetween the terminals of the components and the respective projection ofthe connectors as they lie together at the bottom of each notch. To thisend, the carriers 10, still on conveyor 40. as shown, or if desired,after transfer to a further conveyor, are moved past a station 50 wherea pair of soldering irons enter the notches and solder the partstogether. Flux-cored solder is fed to the irons as necessary. It isdesirable that the irons and the carriers should not move relativelyduring soldering, so that the conveyor and/or the soldering iron motionsare effected accordingly. It is to be noted that the use of solderingirons permits the soldering to be effected at high temperature, incontrast to methods relying on dip-soldering where the temperature usedis a compromise between effective soldering and thermal damage toinsulating materials. The use of a high temperature for solderingreduces the tendency to dry joints.

As mentioned above, it is convenient to arrange that when the solderedconnections have been made they are automatically tested, preferablywhile still on the same conveyor, for example as at station 50 in'Figure6. It

is to be observed that apparatus made by the construction described canbe tested more easily than conventional constructions of electronicapparatus. Thus, a suitable testing apparatus may include testing prodswhich applied to the terminals or connector projections (if any) in thesuccessive notches, and comparing the impedance between the test prodsto the impedance between the corresponding points of a standardapparatus. The successive tests are carried out as the apparatus movesstep by step past the test prods. When abnormal impedance of theapparatus under test is detected by dissimilarity of impedance, a paintmark or the like can be applied to the apparatus to indicate theabnormal point. It can also be arranged that when abnormal impedanceoccurs at a given point in a number of successive apparatuses,indicating a constructional fault rather than a mere component fault,the machine is stopped automatically, through the intermediary ofcontrol unit 41.

In view of the physical size of the hoppers which limits the closenesswith which the delivery chutes can be disposed, and the number involved,which requires the use of a long conveyor system, a supplementaryconveyor system can be used for the individual components before theyare placed in the notches of the carriers, for example as indicateddiagrammatically in Figure 7. The supplementary conveyor is arrangedbelow the delivery chutes of the hoppers from which, under the controlof the programme unit 43 and control unit 41, the components are placedupon the supplementary conveyor in the order in which they are requiredto be inserted in the carrier. The components are transferred in turnfrom the supplementary conveyor to a common delivery chute 72, beneathwhich the carrier 10 on conveyor 40 is located to receive them. Thesupplementary conveyor can run at any convenient speed, and it isnecessary only that the carrier should be moved appropriately each timea component is delivered to it and that delivery from it is synchronisedwith the positioning of the carrier beneath chute 72. Severalsupplementary conveyors can be used in this way.

One of the main advantages of the construction described above arisesfrom the fact that the nature of the electronic apparatus produced isdetermined solely by the programmes 34 and 43 of the connector formingand component-inserting stages, and given only that the carriers are ofsuflicient size a machine can be changed from the manufacture of onetype of apparatus to another merely by change of the programmes.

This degree of flexibility is attainable by using a large number ofcomponent inserting stages, but in practice it is more efficient to usethe minimum number of such stages, with the object of achieving a highproduction speed. Accordingly, in changing from one type of apparatus toanother it is preferred to change also the magazine of the componentinserting mechanisms, but in either case it will be seen that changescan be made rapidly and very much more rapidly than in known printedcircuit techniques.

The programme determining device can be formed as a circuit selector ofthe plugboard type. Such a plugboard will determine one cycle ofoperation of the machine so that if desired one programme can be used toproduce, in one cycle of the machine, a number of the same or ofdifferent apparatuses, The great practical advantages of such anarrangement is obvious.

The construction described above can be varied or supplemented in anumber of ways. In particular the carrier itself can be formed not onlyas described but also as a channel member (for example as describedhereinafter) or other suitable shape, so long as it permits the notchesor other recesses to be disposed in pre determined and, mostconveniently, regular spacing. The notches or the like can be arrangedalong more than one edge of the strip, this arrangement being adopted inan embodiment of the invention described hereinafter,

andmore than one pair of notches can be used. For example, fourinsulating strips with notches along their edges can be secured togetherin two pairs, parallel and side by side, with the two inner stripscloser together. The components are located in notches in the respectivepairs of strips, as described above, and interconnections can be made byconnectors, or a composite connector, lying between the two pairs andhaving lateral projections on both sides.

It is clearly desirable to make use, as far as possible,

of components which are as made, or supplied by individualmanufacturers; normally, components with wire terminals have widelydiffering lengths or" such terminals. It is preferable that theterminals should not project unduly from the sides of the carriers, andso must be trimmed. This can be done beforethe components are placed inthe hoppers, butit is better to insert them in the carriers with thevarying lengths of terminals and then after soldering at station 59 andbefore testing the projecting ends can be cut off by two trimming bladesor saws, one each side of the carrier. 7 If the trimming is done in thisway, it is possible to facilitate construction in another way;components which have two or more terminals to be inserted in notches onone side of the carrier can have a multiple integral terminal, forexample as shown in Figure 8. In this figure the valve holder 89 isshown as having two multiple terminals 81, 82. Such multiple terminalscan be stamped out easily and can be formed integrally with the socketsfor the valve pins, thus greatly simplifying assembly. When the edges ofsuch a multiple contact are trimmed off after soldering, as describedabove, the separate terminals will remain.

The insulating carriers can also be used to support other componentswhich it is not convenient to support solely by their terminal wires.Such other components can be fastened independently to the carriers, orone of the strips forming the carriers, before the main assembly takesplace. The terminals of such components can enter the notches, so as tobe ready for attachment .to the connectors as described. It is preferredto mount large or heavy components as a separate assembly, withconnection made by plug and socket or soldered flexible 7 connections tothe apparatus made as described.

The notches or recesses can be variously shaped. All the notches can beof the same shape; this has the advantage that the carrier strips can bemade automatically in long lengths and cut as needed, and permitsdifierent designs of apparatus to be made merely by programme changes,but differently shaped notches can be used if desired, for example toaccommodate the terminals of components of different sizes. The shape ofslot shown .in Figure 1 has a wide opening at its upper end tofacilitate the entry of the terminal, and tapering downwardly andleading to a rectangular enlargement which receives the lateralprojection of the connector, but as will appear hereinafter a simpleV-notch can be used.

The connectors can be substantially flat, as described above, but it isalso suitable for the projections to be bent at right angles to the mainpart of the connector. In this-case in use the main part of eachconnector will lie against the side of the carrier. The inner ends ofthe projections can be bent over at its tip so as to engage the innerface of the carrier, though this may introduce a risk of undesiredcontacts when metal-cased components are used. It is also possible,though not preferred, to use connectors on both sides of one of thestrips of a carrier.

In a further embodiment of the invention, illustrated in Figures 9 to 13and now to be described, some of" these modifications are adopted. Thus,in the construction of carrier shown in Figures 9 and 10, the carrier isfabricated from three strips 90, 91, 92 of insulating material, such assynthetic resin bonded paper or fabric. The-two side strips 90, 91 aresimilar in shape and have notches 93 at regular intervals along theirupper and lower edges. The strips and 91 are held spaced and parallel bythe third strip 92 which thus forms a platform between them; strip 92has side lugs 94 which enter holes 95 in the side strips. The strips areheld together. by adhesive during assembly, ultimately they are alsoheld together by the components.

A carrier of shape generally similar to that shown in Figures 9 and 10can be made in other ways. For'exg ample, an extruded H-shapedinsulating material, such as hard polyvinyl chloride can be used, thenotches being punched or otherwise cut out afterwards. A suitablecarrier can also be made by deposition of a fibrous mate rial from awater suspension, by suction over a wire gauze former, the deposit beingafterwards compacted by heat and pressure and if desired, afterimpregnation or coating with a synthetic resin. A deposit whichinsection is initially as shown at 96, Fi ure 11 can be used; the parts 97can be pressed together and before the resin is hardened. A fibreglassmaterial can also be used if desired. a I

The platform 92 is used to support components of the apparatus, and inparticular valve holders 98 or high frequency coils or transformers inscreening cans '99.- It is advantageous .to mount valve holdersnear lugs94, since. the insertion and removal of valves imposes some load on theplatform.

As described above notches 93 receive terminal wires from the valveholders 98 and trans-formers or coils in cans 99,'and also fromresistors and small capacitors which are laid in the notches. Theconnections between the terminal wires in the notches are effected, alsoin the manner described in the prior application, by connectorassemblies which are secured to the face of strips 90 and 91. In thepresent embodiment, the connectors are prepared from a punched strip,shown in Figure 1 2. The strip is of copper or other high conductivity,solderable material, and is punched to form a central part 10! fromwhich extend upper and lower extensions 101. Towards its outer end eachprojection has an enlarge.- ment 152. This connector strip can bepunched in long lengths; to prepare a connector to make connectionsbetween the terminal wires in some only of the notches, in accordancewith the desired circuit connections, the strip is passed to aprogramme-controlled punching machine, to remove the unwanted extensions101.

A series of connectors so punched, are assembled with interposed layersof insulating material. There is a considerable variety of materialswhich can be used for such insulating strips; kraft paper is suitablefor many purposes, but materials with special properties can be usedwhen circumstances require them. Material with a high insulationresistance, such as fibreglass cloth, polystyrene or nylon, can be used,or material with a high permittivity can be used to increase'thecapacity between adjacent connectors. Different materials and/ormaterials of different thicknesses, can be used in the-same assembly. a

When the appropriate connectors have been assembled, the outermost edgesof the connector strip are removed, and the enlargement 102 are all bentoutwardly, or all inwardly, and then the assemblies are secured incorrect position on the sides of the carrier. The enlargements will thenall lie in the bottom of the corresponding notches, if the enlargementshave been bent inwardly, or adjacent them if they have been bentoutwardly.

The carriers are fed through a machine where the remaining componentsare placed with their terminal .wires innotches 9-3 and are soldered tothe enlargements 102, in the manner described in our prior application.The completed carrier can also be tested as previously described.

While the notches in the edges of the carriers are advantageous in thatit is easy to locate the componeiits in the notches as the component aredelivered from to the connectors, carriers until the solderedconnections have been made.

9 hoppers, the notches are not essential. In a modified form of theapparatus the strips are unnotched and during the process of assemblingthe components on the carriers and making the necessary solderedconnections to the connectors, separate locating guides can be used. Inone such arrangement, similar to strips 90, 91 but not notched are used;the connector assemblies are secured in correct position on the carrierwhen components are assembled on the carrier temporary guides, which arenotched as shown in Figure 9 are located with respect and are held fixedin relation to the They can be removed and reused; a number of them canbe used in rotation ason an endless conveyor. It will be understood thatif the notches in the carrier are omitted, it is still desirable tomaintain the predetermined or regular spacing of the terminal wires.

Some components which it may be desired to use in an apparatus inaccordance with the invention are made conventionally with all theterminal wires at one end; intermedite frequency transformer, forexample, are so made. For the purpose of the present invention it may bemore convenient to make the wire terminals emerge at both ends, and todispose the component lengthwise across the carrier.

As mentioned in the earlier application, in an apparatus such as a radioreceiver it may be preferable to assemble some of the heavier and/orlarger components on a separate sub-assembly or by more conventionalassembly method. Figure 13 shows diagrammatically a construction whichhas proved. satisfactory. One assembly 104 includes the valves,transformers and the major part of the circuit; an insulating or metalstrip 105 carries the tuning capacitor 106 and coils 107; a furtherinsulating or metal strip 108 carries a gain control potentiometer 109and output transformer 110. Another strip 111 supports a smoothingcapacitor 112 and voltage-dropping resistor 113. The strips 105, 108 and111 can be engaged by tongue and slot connections to each other and tothe ends of platform 92. A loud speaker 114 is secured in a panel 115,which provides a comparatively rigid structure for the whole.

A specific construction forming one embodiment of the invention is shownin more detail in Figures 14a to 14d, and 15. This construction is of asimple radio receiver, the circuit diagram of those parts of thereceiver shown in Figure 14 being given in Figure 15. Figure 1411 is aplan view of the construction and Figure 14d is an underplan; Figure 14ais an exploded diagram showing the individual connectors of the assemblywhich is applied to the face of the chassis of the construction shownuppermost in Figure 14b and lowermost in Figure 14d, whilst Figure 14cis a similar view of the connector assembly applied to the lower face ofthe chassis shown in Figure 14b of the upper-face of that shown inFigure 14d.

The construction makes use of carrier 130 of H-shape in cross section,and made of extruded hard polyvinyl chloride. This carrier is similar incross section to the carrier shown in Figure and the edges of thecarrier are notched in the same way as are those of the carrier ofFigures 9 and 10.

The individual connectors of the assembly are made from stock of thetype shown in Figure 12, and in Figures 144 and 140 the individualconnectors are shown by a horizontal line representing the length of theconnection with shortvertical strokes extending laterally from it; eachvertical stroke is intended to connect to one terminal of a componentlodged in a notch of the carrier. Connectors of the assembly of Figure14a shown with a downward stroke will therefore connect to that terminalof a component which rests in a notch in the upper surface of thecarrier as shown in Figure 14b, whilst an upward stroke will effect aconnection to a terminal lodged ina notch in the lower surface of thecarrier shown in Figure 14d. In similar fashion, connectors of theassembly 10 of Figure shown with an upward stroke will malce connectionto terminals in a notch of the surface immediately above them in thecarrier Figure 14b and with a downward stroke to the terminals innotches in the surface of the carrier of Figure 14a immediately belowthem.

In Figure 15 the apparatus includes four valves V1, V2, V3, V4 arrangedin a superheterodyne circuit, and in cluding a valve operating as asupply rectifier. Valve V1 is a combined oscillator and frequencychanger, the intermediate frequency output of which is coupled bytransformer IFT1 to the input of valve V2. Valve V2 acts as anintermediate frequency amplifier and also has diode electrodes fordemodulation; a second transformer IFTZ. couples the output of theamplifier to the diodes. The rectified diode output is applied to theinput of valve V3 which is a multiple valve the first, triode, sectionof which is used as a low frequency amplifier and the output, tetrode,section of which is used to supply a load device such as a loudspeaker.

In addition to the components mentioned, the circuit makes use ofresistors R1 to R16 and capacitors C1 to C14. The circuit as shown isincomplete inasmuch as it does not include a signal frequency tuningdevice, which is adapted to be applied to the input of valve V1 throughcapacitor C1, nor a local oscillator frequency tuning cir cuit adaptedto be coupled to the triode section of valve V1 through capacitor C3.Further, a gain control p0: tentiometer is required to be connectedbetween terminals 131 and the earth connector of the receiver and theprimary winding of the output transformer feeding the loud speaker isintended to be connected to terminals 132.

Except for these omissions, the circuit shown in Figure 15 will berecognized by those skilled in the art as conventional and it is nottherefore considered necessary to refer in detail to the functions ofthe individual components.

Components identified by these references in Figure. 15 are identifiedby the same references in Figure 14. In Figure 15 the variousconnections necessary to complete the circuit between these componentsare'identified'by references K1 to K34 and each of these connections ifformed by that one of the connectors of the two as? semblies shown inFigures 14a and 140, which bears the same reference in Figure 15.

For example, in Figure 15 a connection K2 is required between theright-hand terminal of capacitor C1 and the control grid of the inputsection of valve V1, and one terminal of resistance R3. This connectionis made by connector K2 which appears at the lower left-hand end ofFigure 14c. It will be seen that connector K2 is shown as having threedownward strokes indicating connection to terminals in the first, thirdand fourth notches on the upper surface of the carrier as' shown inFigure 14d. Capacitor C1 is located in the first pair of notches of thecarrier, resistor R3 in the third pair and a connection from the gridcontact of a valve holder for valve V1 is made to the fourth notch onthis surface. Connector K2 will clearly make the desired connections.

It will be seen that connector K1 is used to make connection to theleft-hand terminal of capacitor C1, but is not shown to make any otherconnection. It is useful to employ a connector such as K1 because itanchors the terminal wire of C1 shown lowermost in Figure 14d .so toretain the capacitor on the carrier and also provides a point to whichan external tuning circuit can be readily atached by soldering andsecured more effectively than if the connector K1 were omitted.

Following this example, it is not considered necessary to describe indetail the way in which all the remaining connectors are used andthe'individual connections are made will be readily apparent bycomparison of Figures 14 and 15. However, some further minor pointsarise in the method of using the connectors. For example, it will beseen that the anode supply to the three valves nebtorsKS and "K9; K isshown in the assembly of Figure 140 and K9 in that of Figure 14a. Tojoin these connectors use is made of the simple insulated wireconnection W which is lodged in one pair of the notches of the carrier.In this way it is possible to make cross connections from one side tothe other of the carrier.

It will also be seen that a single connection is 'made toconnector K11shown in Figure 14a. This connector .is however connected to an earthypoint of the circuit and is used to act as an electrostatic screen for alead such as that provided by connector K15 which might otherwise giverise to instability in the receiver.

The receiver of Figures 14 and 15 can be completed in the mannerdescribed above in conjunction with Figare 13.

In Figures 16 and 17 is shown a machine which can be used for makingelectronic apparatus, and in particular an apparatus'such as that shownin Figures 14 and 15. This machine forms the subject of copendingapplication Serial No. 619,081, filed October 29, 1956, now abandoned.

Before proceeding to a description of this machine it may be pointed outthat as described above it is necessary to ensure the individualconnectors of the assembly are in the correct relative position, onearrangement for effecting this is described above in connection withFigure 5. In the machine of Figures 16 and 17 a different expedient isadopted: strip stock is first prepared, in the form shown in Figure 12and then there are removed some of the portions 101, to leave a seriesof connectors corresponding to the individual connectors but joined toform a self 'supporting unit by the marginal portions of the strip.Insulating material is applied to the whole face of the strip, andthereafter the margins are removed, vto leave the discrete connectorsinsulated from each other. All the strips thus formed can be cut toprecisely the same length, making it much easier to stack them in thecorrect relative positions.

The machine shown in Figures 16 and 17 takes a copper strip 310, whichcan be pre-tinned at least along the edges of one major face, and/or mayhave a coating of soldering flux at these parts. The strip has a widthequal to that of the strip shown in Figure 12 and is fed from a drum at311 by means of pairs of feed rolls 312 and 313. Between these feedrolls the strip is punched, the strip being advanced intermittently. Anumber of punches are used, but all the punches are operated from acommon head 14 which is depressed after each moveineht of the strip.There is a separate die for each punch but the dies are mounted on acommon support plate 315. The first four punches 316 are fixed, andoperated on every stroke ofthe head of the press. These punches are usedto remove material so as to leave the strip as shown in Figure 12; thepunch separation is greater than that of theapertures, but the advanceof the strip is controlled so that on leaving this first group of fourpunches, the strip is as desired.

The second group of punches 317, in this case 12 in number, areselectively operable punches. These punches are used to remove partssuch as 100 or 101 in Figure 12 which are not required in any individualparticular connector strip. A number of ditferent connector strips arerequired for each connector assembly, and it is by selective operationof punches 17 that the different strips can be made in succession.

The way in which each punch can be made operative or inoperative isindicated in Figures 18 and 19. Each punch is carried on a plunger 318attached in turn to a piston 319 moving in afcylinder formed in'block320. Each piston is biased upwardly by a coil spring 321, and compressedair can be admitted to the space above the piston through a port 322.

--,-If compressed air is not admitted to this space the piston assumesthe position, relative to the block, as

sesame shown in Figure '18; when air is "admitted, the'piston moves totherelative position shown in Figure 19. When head 314 is depressed thetip of the punch will thus pierce strip 310 only if compressed air hasbeen admitted to port 322. p

i The admission of air to all the separate ports 322 is controlled by aseries of electrically operated air valves, controlled from a programmedevice, described hereinafter.

' The punches 17 do not remove the extreme edges of the strip so thatthe connector strips although almost completely punched are stillretained in a continuous coherent strip by the marginal portions, sothat it can still be handled conveniently.

' The strip so formed has applied to its upper and lower surfaces astrip of thin insulating sheet material, kraft paper about .005 inchthick being suitable. Thepaper strips are fed from an upper roll 323 andlower roll 324, and are secured to the metal strip, and to each otherthrough the openings in the metal strip, by a layer of adhesive appliedto it. The adhesive is applied from spreading baths, of which one isshown at 315. The upper surface of the upper paper strip is also given acoating of adhesive, from spreading bath 326. I

The composite strip is fed through a heating chamber 327, heated ininfra-red lamps 328, to produce an initial pro-curing setting of theadhesive so that it can be subsequently fullyhardened by a singleapplication of heat and pressure. Once the paper insulation has been'attached to the connector strip in this way, the supporting margins ofthe strip are cut away, so maintaining a continuous and easily handledelement despite the fact that the connector strips are at this timeelectrically independent.

It is arranged that the tool that removes the margins of the strips alsobends at right angles the tag portions 102 of the strips, as shown inthe Figure 12. This tool is shown at 329 in Figure 16; the first part ofthe motion of the tool cuts otf the margin, and the second part "bendsdown the tags.

' The composite strip is next cut into lengths, being fed by feed rolls330 past a cropping tool 331. The Cut lengths of strip rest on top of aguide rail of rectangular cross section, shown at 332 in Figure 5. Wheneach strip has been deposited on the rail the rail is raised and thestrip is forced into a shaped retainer 333, where it is held byshoulders 334 which engage the tips of the terminal lugs of the strip.There is sufiicient resiliency of the lugs to hold the strip inposition. The further strips are assembled in the retainer 333 in thesame way.

When all the lengths of composite strip necessary for one connectorassembly have been stacked in retainer 333, the guide rail 332 movesupwardly an increased distance, forcing the stack into a transferretainer 334. This latter retainer is carried by a pair of arms 335pivoted about an axis at 336.

In the meantime, carriers 337, corresponding to the carriers shown'inFigures 9, 10 or 14 are brought by a main cross conveyor 338 and aretransferred to a further conveyor 339. By this latter they are broughtto the position shown inFigure 20, so that when the transfer retainer334 swings upwardlythe contact assembly can be pressed against the sideof the carrier with heat and pressure applied by a platen 340, therebycuring the adhesive layers of the assembly.

As connector assemblies have to be applied to both sides of the carrier,a second connector assembly is prepared by duplicate apparatus (exceptfor the appropriate operation of the punches) alongside the first, asshown in Figure 19. The transfer retainer for the second assembly isarranged on the opposite side of the carrier and so that the two platensare applied simultaneously to op posite sides of the carrier.

The carriers are transferred to a component loading station; componentsare-loaded from a series of hoppers 341, in each of which components arestored in a continuous belt 342. The belt is formed by two edge stripsbetween which the individual components extend at intervals, ladderfashion. The'belts can be on drums or can be stored foldedconcertina-wise. The belts pass over driver rollers 343 so that they areadvanced, as necessary, in synchronism with the motion of conveyor 339.When the wire ends of the component are in position in the notches thewires are cut by a cropping wheel 344 and the wires are soldered to thelugs by a battery of soldering irons 345, each with an automatic solderfeed.

On leaving the soldering station, a carrier has all the componentssecured on its upper edge, and it is moved to a transfer device 346,where it is taken from conveyor 339, inverted, and deposited on aconveyor 347. Components are likewise secured on the other edge of thecarrier, and the carrier is removed by a further cross conveyor 348.

If desired a testing station can be included after soldering thecomponents on conveyor 339, and/ or one on conveyor 347 before thecarriers are removed.

As mentioned above, testing can be carried out by applying test prods topairs of terminals, and comparing the impedance between the prods withthe impedance between the corresponding points of a corresponding, standard apparatus. The motion of the carrier through the testing station issynchronised with the movements of the earlier stages of assembly; acarrier can be moved through the testing stage a distance correspondingto one notch at a time, in which case one pair of test prods only arerequired, or alternatively the carrier can be moved less frequently anda larger number of pairs of test prods used. In the latter case, astepping switch or the like can be used, to initiate the tests betweensuccessive pairs of prods. The movement of this stepping switch or thelike can then be initiated in synchronism with the movements of theremainder of the machine, but once started the tests can proceed asrapidly as may be. The progress of the carrier from the testing stationcan then be made dependent upon the completion of the sequence of tests.By such an arrangement of a sub-cycle of operation, it can be arrangedthat the operation of the whole of the machineneed not be slowed byreason of one operation, 'which takes longer than the others, providedthat the average time for each operation of the sub-cycle does notexceed the normal time of an operation of the machine. This principlecan be otherwise applied in the machine.

The heated platens must also be in contact with the composite strips fora period suflicient to cure the adhesive, and so the mechanicalinterlock switch such as 369 which is associated with the platen and isoperated when the platen engages the composite connector, is arranged tostart a timing device 372 hold open interlock contacts at 364 includedin the circuit of the air control valve controlling the removal of theplaten.

As mentioned above, the stepping speed' of the step by step motion isdetermined by the adjustable timer 360. While any suitable devices suchas relay circuits, or time constant circuits can be used for thispurpose, an advantageous arrangement is to include on one of the partsof the machine suitably operated switch and to control the running speedof this part of the machine by the admission of the air supply. Forexample, in this embodiment, a switch is operated by the form tool atthe bottom of its stroke and this switch causes the uniselector to step.Arestrictor valve is included in the air supply of the form tool, and itis this valve which determines the interval at which the next strokewill take place, and hence the interval at which the uniselector willnext step.

This arrangement has the advantage that it is easier to control thestepping of the uniselector; in general, the uniselector must not stepuntil the previous operation is '14 complete, and this can be eifectedby controlling the operation of the form tool.

Itwill be understood that while the invention has been described inrelation to certain embodiments it is not limited thereto, and thatvarious modifica ions are possible, as will be apparent to those skilledin the art. One modification involves dispensing with a separate carrieras such, and using the composite connector as the carrier in this case aconnector such as that described in connection with Figures 12 and 14can be used, except that the paper strips, and with them the connectorstrip stock, are made wider and pairs of extensions such as 101 and 102are made to emerge from the opposite sides of the assembly at each pointwhere it is desired to make connection to a component the terminals ofwhich are then attached directly to the pairs of pairs 102.

Again, it is possible to form a composite connector of other than fiatconductor material and to form the connector as a coherent assembly byembedding the conductors in a hardenable material such as a resin.

.1 claim:

1. A method of producing a plurality of connector elements eachcomprising a linear conductor element of conductive sheet materialhaving at least two integral transverse extensions spaced from eachother by integer multiples of a common modulus, the spacing of two suchextensions of at least one element being difierent from the spacing oftwo such extensions on at least one other element, the method comprisingblanking from conductive sheet material pre-form elements eachcomprising a linear conductor element provided with integral transverseextensions spaced by distances equal to said common modulus over alength equal at least to the maximum distance of any two extensions onany of the connector elements to be prepared, and preparing theindividual connector elements from such pre-forms by cropping oif theunwanted parts.

2. In a method as claimed in claim 1, the steps of providing a roll ofconductive strip material, blanking said roll progressively from end toend to produce a continuous length of linear conductor having integraltransverse extensions spaced throughout said continuous length bydistances equal to said modulus, and subdividing said continuousconductor to produce the'individual pre-forms.

3. A method in accordance with claim 2 and including the step of passingsaid continuous linear conductor to a combination of tools selectivelyoperable to remove parts thereof, and selectively operating said toolsto remove from said linear conductor parts thereof and synchronising themovement of said linear conductor with the operation of said tools toform a succession of a plurality of dissimilar connector elements.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3, and comprising the step ofsetting a programme device to control the sequence of operation of saidtools.

5. An electronic apparatus comprising a plurality of wire-ended circuitcomponents extending between two spaced composite terminal bars, eachsaid bar comprising a stack of superimposed sheets of insulatingmaterial and a plurality of electrical conductor elements extendinglongitudinally of said bar and respectively separated from each other byat least one of said sheets, said co11 duetor elements being eachprovided with at least two integral terminal portions extending alongsuch sheet transversely of said element, the individual extensions ofeach conductor element being spaced longitudinally of said element bydistances which are all integer multiples of a common modulus, suchdistances in at least two of the connector elements being different fromeach other, and at least some of said components having their wire endsconductively attached to one terminal each on said two barsrespectively.

6. An electronic apparatus in accordance with claim 5, wherein saidcomponents are retained in said located r is positionsonly'bytheattachment of said parts to said terminals. a

7. Anelectronic apparatus in accordance with claim 5, wherein saidcarrier presents a substantially flat platform serving as a support forat least some'of said components, the said recesses or the like lyingwithout the plane of said platform.

8. An electronic apparatus in accordance with claim 7, wherein saidcarrier is of H-shape in cross section.

9. An electrical terminal bar for electronic apparatus, comprising aplurality of strips of insulating material each having a longitudinaledge of equal shape, said strips being superimposed with said edgescoinciding, and a plurality of connector elements superimposed inalternation with said strips so as to be electrically insulated fromeach other by said strips, each said connector element comprising alinear conductor element extending longitudinally of said bar at adistance from said edge and provided with at least two integral terminalextensions projecting from said strip along the surface of "one of 20said layers to points beyond said edge, the extensions of each conductorelement and of the various conductor 'tudinally of the bar and eachprovided with at least two transversely projecting terminal extensionsspaced by 10 integer multiples of said common modulus.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,718,993 Wermine July 2, 1929 15 2,244,009 Hiensch June 3, 19412,399,753 McLarn May 7, 1946 2,444,037 Fritschi June 29, 1948 2,508,030Karns May 16, 1 950 2,596,237 Gross May 13, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS FranceJan. 18, 1950

